Tragic reason for violence spike

The report, by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), surveyed 10,000 women to investigate links between economic insecurity and intimate partner violence in 2020.

While never an excuse for abuse, authors Anthony Morgan and Dr Hayley Boxall, from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), found “clear evidence” that job loss and financial stress were associated with both the onset and escalation of it.

Despite the deep-rooted stigma of what “kind” of woman experiences intimate partner abuse, the ANROWS research found that a woman’s own economic security and employment was not a protective factor – even placing them at an “increase risk” of sexual violence.

“This suggests that within intimate relationships where the partners have similar levels of earning power, or the woman is the primary breadwinner, some abusers may be using sexual violence as a way of exerting control over their partner that they feel they have lost or is being challenged in other areas,” AIC Deputy Director Rick Brown told The Guardian.

Women with higher levels of financial stress who hadn’t already experienced violence “were much more likely to have experienced physical and sexual violence or emotionally abusive, harassing and controlling behaviours relative to women who reported low levels of financial stress in the last 12 months”, the authors wrote.

“Women who were the main income earner in the relationship were more likely than women who were not the main income earner to have experienced physical violence, sexual violence and emotionally abusive, harassing and controlling behaviours,” they added.

“Specifically, respondents who said that they could find $2000 within a week in an emergency, but that their partner could not, were significantly more likely than respondents in relationships where neither partner could obtain the money to have experienced sexual violence and emotionally abusive, harassing and controlling behaviours.”

Of those surveyed, 95 per cent had a male partner – pointing to previous research that has argued the relationship between economic disparity and intimate violence “is a consequence of attitudes that support traditional gender norms and hegemonic masculinities”.

As Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly explained to news.com.au, “what underpins this violence are sexist and harmful attitudes and beliefs that do not value women as equals within a broader social context of gender inequality”.

“For example, the belief that women are ‘better suited’ or more ‘natural’ at raising children, or that men should be breadwinners or head of a household,” she added.

“When men already hold these kinds of attitudes, factors such as financial stress can play a role in influencing their use of violence against their partners.”

While financial stress or loss of a job doesn’t cause violence, Ms Kinnersly said, “where gender inequality and sexist attitudes already exist it can amplify or exacerbate existing power imbalances”.

“We know that when women earn more than their partners, men who hold attitudes that are sexist or hostile towards women may feel threatened by changes to their status, and in response be more likely to use violence,” she said.

The ANROWS research also found the opposite to be true – women whose partner would be able to obtain $2000 in an emergency while they couldn’t were also more likely to experience abuse.

CEO, Padma Raman, said it was “most concerning that women’s experiences of economic insecurity were linked with an increased chance of experiencing intimate partner violence, regardless of economic disparity within the relationship”.

“It is vital that responses to improve women’s economic security are supported by strategies which address harmful attitudes supporting gender norms and dismantle systems that enable these problematic attitudes,” she said.

The report makes a number of recommendations, including that economic support for women must take into account ways to prevent violence, support victims and survivors currently in abusive relationships, and support women after they leave abusive partners.

A draft of the Morrison Government’s National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 has a “strong focus” on addressing women’s recovery from violence, including their economic security, Minister for Women’s Safety Anne Ruston has said.

“We understand that financial hardship can be a barrier to leaving violent relationships and the new Escaping Violence Payment (of $5000) aims to provide direct financial support to victim-survivors when they make the incredibly brave decision to leave any form of intimate partner violence including physical violence, coercive control and financial abuse,” she said.

As always, “stopping violence before it starts is not just about individual action”, Ms Kinnersly said.

“It means leadership from governments, workplaces, schools and sporting clubs who are committed to taking action to create a safer and more equal society.”

Originally published as Women three times more likely to be abused if in pandemic-induced financial stress, research finds